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IMDbPro

Cobain: Montage of Heck

  • 20152015
  • TV-MATV-MA
  • 2h 12m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
30K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
10,721
776
Kurt Cobain in Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
Watch a trailer for the highly anticipated documentary "Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck."
Play trailer1:01
1 Video
77 Photos
DocumentaryAnimationBiography
An authorized documentary on the late musician Kurt Cobain, from his early days in Aberdeen, Washington to his success and downfall with the grunge band Nirvana.An authorized documentary on the late musician Kurt Cobain, from his early days in Aberdeen, Washington to his success and downfall with the grunge band Nirvana.An authorized documentary on the late musician Kurt Cobain, from his early days in Aberdeen, Washington to his success and downfall with the grunge band Nirvana.
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
30K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
10,721
776
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Brett Morgen
    • Writer
      • Brett Morgen
    • Stars
      • Kurt Cobain(archive footage)
      • Wendy O'Connor
      • Don Cobain
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Brett Morgen
    • Writer
      • Brett Morgen
    • Stars
      • Kurt Cobain(archive footage)
      • Wendy O'Connor
      • Don Cobain
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 91User reviews
    • 114Critic reviews
    • 83Metascore
    • Nominated for 7 Primetime Emmys
      • 4 wins & 17 nominations total

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 1:01
    Trailer

    Photos77

    Brett Morgen in Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
    Kurt Cobain in Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
    Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love in Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
    Kurt Cobain in Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
    Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
    Krist Novoselic in Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
    Kurt Cobain in Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
    Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
    Kurt Cobain and Frances Bean Cobain in Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
    Brett Morgen in Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
    Kurt Cobain in Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
    Brett Morgen in Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Kurt Cobain
    Kurt Cobain
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Wendy O'Connor
    • Self - Kurt's Mother
    Don Cobain
    • Self - Kurt's Father
    Jenny Cobain
    • Self - Kurt's Stepmother
    Kim Cobain
    • Self - Kurt's Sister
    Buzz Osborne
    Buzz Osborne
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    • (voice)
    Krist Novoselic
    Krist Novoselic
    • Self - Kurt's Friend
    Tracey Marander
    Tracey Marander
    • Self - Kurt's Girlfriend
    Courtney Love
    Courtney Love
    • Self - Kurt's Wife
    Nirvana
    Nirvana
    • Themselves
    • (archive footage)
    Dave Grohl
    Dave Grohl
    • Self - Nirvana
    • (archive footage)
    Chad Channing
    • Self - Nirvana
    • (archive footage)
    Jason Everman
    • Self - Nirvana
    • (credit only)
    Pat Smear
    Pat Smear
    • Self - Nirvana
    • (archive footage)
    Dale Crover
    Dale Crover
    • Self - Nirvana
    • (archive footage)
    Dan Peters
    • Self - Nirvana
    • (credit only)
    Dave Foster
    • Self - Nirvana
    • (credit only)
    Aaron Burckhard
    • Self - Nirvana
    • (archive footage)
    • Director
      • Brett Morgen
    • Writer
      • Brett Morgen
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      According to a interview in "Rolling Stone," director Brett Morgan planned on including Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl in the film, but Grohl was busy filming "Sonic Highways." By the time Grohl was available Morgan was satisfied with his cut of the film and decided not to include him.
    • Connections
      Features Häxan (1922)
    • Soundtracks
      Territorial Pissings
      Written by Kurt Cobain, Chet Powers

      Performed by Nirvana

      Courtesy of Geffen Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises

    User reviews91

    Review
    Top review
    5/10
    Wasted potential due to Director's ego
    I was hoping for this film to be great. As a Nirvana fan (most people who claim to like Nirvana have no idea what 'Incesticide' or even 'Bleach' is), I was looking forward to a thorough insight into this beloved figure who is still shrouded in a fog of misrepresentation and false hero worship. Unfortunately the film did not live up to expectations as it seemed the Director, "Brett Morgan" was more concerned in making the film aesthetically pleasing than emotionally interesting.

    First off, a few positives about the film. 1. The way it portrays Courtney Love: She is despised by most music fans who believe she ruined Nirvana, but it's pretty clear that Kurt's self destruction was mostly his doing and his natural tendencies which add an appropriate sense of melancholy to the movie. 2. Some of the montages were nice when not excruciatingly overdone. 3. The music of course was good, it had a wide range from their b-sides (Dive), their first album (Mr. Moustache) and their popular stuff (Territorial Pissings) Including some fascinating covers of the Velvet Underground and the Beatles. 4. The story about Kurt and the "Retarded Girl" was absolutely fascinating.

    However, the pacing of the film is truly awful. The first hour trudges along after a promising start and becomes bogged down in the Director's own agenda to show off his style. By far the best scenes in the film is just raw footage of Kurt and Courtney living alone in their dingy apartments and hotel rooms.

    The film is appropriately titled, as the film is almost solely montages that don't progress the story and just serve again to stroke the Director's ego. Another example is the overuse of EXTREMELY LOUD to absolute silence.

    Also, the ending of the film is not only unsatisfying, but extremely clichéd. There are countless films that have the same end title card and it felt awfully lazy. This is also disappointing because we experience none of the emotional damage that Cobains death has, which would have been far more interesting than 5 minutes of repetitive montages.

    What's sad is that this film claimed to be the definitive Cobain Doco, but it's so obvious that there is plenty more interesting video and audio recordings made by Cobain HIMSELF that were left out in order to make way for dead end animation montages and hyper editing. The film could have been just as emotionally effective with 20 minutes cut from it.

    However, I am still at least glad I saw the film, all the less wanky stuff was honestly well directed and Cobain's home video footage is nothing short of riveting and sometimes becomes really funny and beautiful.

    So I give this film a 6. At the end of the day, I feel it would have been far more interesting just to sort through 3 hours of Cobain's home recordings than to watch a Director trying to steal the limelight from his charismatic subjects.
    helpful•62
    33
    • knoxfan2008
    • May 9, 2015

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 4, 2015 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
    • Production companies
      • HBO Documentary Films
      • Polder Animation
      • Primary Wave Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross worldwide
      • $687,649
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      2 hours 12 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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